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Maryann's New Year
'' Maryann's New Year ''is the fifteenth book in the Middle School Experience series. It tells the story of Maryann's trip to New York during Winter Break. She goes to New York City with a few of her friends from Georgia so she can reunite with her friends from New York. Maryann finally gets the chance to visit New York City, her former hometown, when her parents surprise her with plane tickets. This trip is the perfect opportunity for Maryann to blend her old life and her new life, especially when she invites Regina and Leah to come with her. Unfortunately, Maryann's new friends do not end up fitting into the city life--or with her old friends--and Maryann begins to feel like she doesn't belong in either group. Will Maryann spend her New Year having to choose between her two worlds? Summary On the evening of Maryann's last day of the fall semester, Maryann comes to dinner when her sister Melody goes up to her and tells her that she overheard their parents discussing a surprise that involves them, which immediately hypes Maryann up. After dinner, Howard reveals that he had been talking to the Zhous', their family friends from their old hometown, New York, about visiting them during the winter break; however, he mentions that he and Meilin cannot visit them because they agreed to spend their New Year's vacation in Chicago. Maryann is disappointed at first, until her parents present her with an envelope, which is filled with four plane tickets to New York, two of them for her and Melody, and two for two of Maryann's friends. The girls' parents tell them that they are going on a trip to New York from December 26th until January 2nd, so they will get to ring in the new year with their old friends. Later that night, Maryann Facetimes Celine, Gwen, and Haruka to tell them the good news about the trip, and the girls celebrate. Maryann tells her friends that she plans on inviting two of her Lakewood friends, Regina and Chloe, on the trip. After she gets off the phone with them, she calls Regina and Chloe to invite them on the trip. Regina agrees to come, but Chloe cannot come because she had already scheduled a ski trip with her mom during the same week. However, Chloe suggests that Maryann invite Leah to the trip so they can get closer and show Leah the sophistication of New York. Although Maryann isn't a fan of Leah's sometimes close-minded attitude, she thinks about Chloe's suggestion. Maryann agrees to invite Leah on the trip, who gladly accepts her offer. The week before the trip, Maryann and her friends come up with plans and destinations to visit while they're in New York, which include going to Chinatown, going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and throwing a welcoming party for Maryann, Melody, Leah, and Regina. On Christmas Eve, Regina and Leah stay over at Maryann's house so they can all leave together for New York tomorrow. They go to the airport to catch their flight, and although Leah complains a bit about having to ride in coach on the plane, the girls have a tiring ride, but eventually, they land in New York, where they meet up with Celine and her father, Sun. After the girls leave the airport, they stop at Gracie's, a diner close to Celine's house for breakfast; everyone enjoys breakfast except for Leah, who barely eats anything and complains about what the diner looks like. Later, the girls go to Celine's house, where they meet Celine's mother, Shirley. The girls bring their suitcases upstairs and figure out their rooming arrangements (Melody sleeping alone in one guest room, Leah and Regina sleeping in another guest room, and Maryann sleeping in Celine's room) and take a nap before lunch. During lunch, Gwen and Haruka come over so they can meet Leah and Regina and catch up with Maryann. The girls talk about their past semesters, but Maryann can't help but feel jealous when Celine mentions her achievements in student council and drama club, which are much more than what Maryann accomplished at Lakewood so far. Gwen and Haruka mention that they ran into one of the girls' friends, Erica, who is throwing a New Year's Eve party before gossiping about a girl named Lacey, whom Maryann went to school with and didn't like; however, Regina does not appreciate the conversation about Lacey. Gwen and Haruka mention some other people that are in town for the week, including some of Maryann's old friends and Alan Nguyen, her old crush whom she still had feelings for. Everyone is excited to talk about Alan except for Celine, and Haruka reveals that Celine and Alan are dating, much to Maryann's shock and dismay, since Celine had never told her anything about her and Alan before. The conversation quickly becomes awkward and uncomfortable for Maryann, Celine, and Regina. Before bed that night, Maryann asks Celine why she kept her relationship with Alan from her. Celine tells her that she felt bad about crushing on her friend's crush, so that's why she hid it. Maryann reassures Celine that she's over Alan, even though she doesn't actually mean it. The next day, Celine tells Maryann about her plan to go to Chinatown so they can shop for items for the welcoming party, and Maryann goes to Leah and Regina to tell them about their plans. However, Regina is still acting cold towards her, and Regina admits that she didn't like how Maryann and her friends were gossipy about Lacey and thinks that Celine isn't a true friend to Maryann; Maryann tells her that Celine is a true friend whom she had a misunderstanding with and that Regina should give her a second chance and help Celine decorate for the party. Maryann tells her Georgia friends about going to Chinatown today, but Leah becomes upset because the girls had planned on shopping in the Upper East Side that day. Leah quickly becomes annoyed and blurts out a racist comment; Maryann quickly becomes discouraged by her friends' attitudes. Later that day, the girls go to Chinatown, a place which everyone except Leah enjoys and wants to sight-see. Regina says that Chinatown will be inspiring for her art when she helps Celine decorate the party, but Celine tells her that she doesn't want her to decorate because she and her friends had already come up with a decorating scheme, which angers Regina and puts her in a bad mood. The girls go into a marketplace to buy some food for the party, and Celine confesses to Maryann that she doesn't want Leah and Regina sight-seeing with them because of their bad attitudes; Maryann tries to explain to Celine that she wasn't letting Regina decorate for a stupid reason, but Celine brushes her off. After the girls finish shopping at the marketplace, they go into a restaurant, where they run into Hailey, a girl from Maryann's old school whom she didn't like but one who befriended Celine, something else Maryann didn't know about her best friend. Hailey tells Celine that she is excited for ''her ''party, and Maryann and her friends become upset when they realize that Celine had turned their welcoming party into her own party. After Hailey leaves, the girls confront her over it, but after Celine becomes defensive, Leah and Regina decide to leave Chinatown and go home; the rest of the girls go sight-seeing around the city without them. When Maryann gets back from Chinatown, she goes to Leah and Regina's room to apologize for what happened and check up on them. However, the conversation quickly devolves into Leah and Regina accusing Celine of being a fake friend and warning Maryann to watch out for her, which Maryann becomes annoyed by. Maryann tells her friends that she'll talk to Celine about her poor behavior towards them, but her friends tell her not to, which annoys her further. Maryann decides to make today up with her friends by planning an outing with just the three of them, although she wishes that she could go on an outing with all of her friends. The next day, the girls stay at Celine's house to help decorate and cook for the welcoming party, but tensions are high between Regina and Celine, and they don't get better when Gwen, Haruka, and two of Maryann's other friends, Abby and Ava, arrive to the party; things aren't helped by Leah and Regina's outfits, which are overdressy and "unique" where none of the pieces match, respectively. Ava hits it off with Leah when she genuinely comments on Leah's dress, but the other girls make snide comments about her, which prompts Regina to call them "frigid bitches", surprising Maryann. The party quickly becomes about Celine as soon as Hailey and her friends arrive and the party has a mean-spirited vibe, much to Maryann's dismay. Maryann notices that her Georgia friends are standing in a corner by themselves and not mingling with anyone and tries to get them to mingle; Regina finally decides to mingle with Lacey, who walks up to the girls and introduces herself to Maryann's new friends, and Leah decides to catch up with Ava and her friends. Maryann decides to clean up the kitchen a little and while she is cleaning, Celine walks up to her with Alan. Maryann acts flirty towards Alan and points out Regina when he notices her. She, Alan, and Celine go to the living room to dance and catch up, but Maryann realizes that Alan seems way more into Celine than he is into her. After Alan walks away to get some food and catch up with other friends, Celine reveals to Maryann that she wants to confess her feelings for Alan, but she's too scared to, and Maryann reassures her that she'll be there for her whatever she decides to do, though she is planning on taking Alan for her own. The girls decide to go into the kitchen to get some food, where they see Regina talking to a boy, who turns out to be Alan, much to Maryann's shock and disappointment. Celine freaks out and demands Maryann to break them up, but when Maryann refuses to do anything, Celine takes matters into her own hands and walks up to Regina and begins screaming at her. Celine smashes a plate of queso on Regina's shirt, and Regina retaliates back by slapping Celine across the face hard before storming upstairs. Sun and Shirley shut down the party immediately after that, and Maryann regrets coming on this trip. After the party, Maryann, Melody, and Leah clean up before Melody leaves to go to a sleepover at one of her old friends' houses. Regina comes downstairs to get some water when Maryann confronts her about her actions, Regina reprimands her on her poor attitude towards Lacey and doubles down on her claims that Celine is a fake and mean-spirited friend before saying that Maryann made her and Leah feel left out during the party. When Leah makes a snipe about the situation, Maryann calls her out for her self-centered and shallow behavior during the trip. Leah accuses Maryann of not wanting her on the trip and reveals that Chloe had told her earlier that she had been invited on the trip before she was. Maryann realizes that her Georgia friends are really hurt by her actions as they storm out of the kitchen. Maryann goes to Celine's rooms to get her things and move to Melody's room, and attempts to tell her that she overreacted when it came to Regina and Alan, but the girls end up getting in a huge fight. Maryann calls out Celine's shady behavior about the party and her lies, but Celine accuses her of jealousy and says that she's a nobody at Lakewood. Maryann calls Celine a self-centered bitch and ends their friendship before she storms out. For the next few days, no one wants anything to do with Maryann; Leah and Regina go on separate outings with Melody and some of Maryann's friends, and Celine decides to sleep over at Gwen's house for a few days. Maryann is lonely, hurt, and bored, until Alan texts her and asks her out for lunch for Gracie's. Thinking it's a date, Maryann agrees to go. Maryann and Alan talk for a while and catch up on each other's lives before Alan brings up the party and all the drama that occurred with it. He informs her that he and Regina were just talking about the Met Museum and weren't flirting and relates to her when they talk about Celine's strange behavior. Alan eventually admits to Maryann that he has a crush on Celine, and though Maryann is hurt about it for a second, she eventually accepts it when she sees that he is just as serious about Celine as she is about him. When Maryann mentions that she's reluctant to go to Erica's party because of the previous drama with her friends, Alan suggests that she bring her friends to the party so they can finally talk things out and ring in the new year together. The following night, Maryann convinces a reluctant Leah and Regina to come to Erica's New Year's Eve party with her and Melody. They go and are welcomed with open arms, unlike the previous party. Maryann notices Celine glaring at her and walks up to her with her Georgia friends. Maryann leads all of her friends upstairs to Erica's room, where they have a talk about all the problems that had during this trip. Regina admits that she let her insecurities lead her emotions and apologizes for Maryann for acting bitter about her friendship with Celine and apologizes to Celine for slapping her. Celine admits that she was trying too hard to be popular after Maryann moved away and got carried away and apologizes to Leah and Regina for making them feel unwelcome and apologizes to Maryann for letting popularity get in the way of being a good friend. Leah admits that she had had a bad attitude when New York City turned out the way she expected and when she learned that she was Maryann's second choice for this trip. Maryann apologizes to her friends for not doing enough to make sure all of them were happy and got along. She also admits that she was jealous of Celine's accomplishments and felt like she needed to reclaim her status at Cadence (her old school) but realizes that it's time to move on and continue living her life in Georgia. Even though the girls don't have a lot of time on the trip left, they agree to spend their last day sight-seeing Chinatown and ice-skating in Central Park. The girls go back to the party to enjoy themselves and ring in the new year with their friends. Alan and Celine finally confess their feelings for each other and share a New Year's kiss and Maryann is happy that she is celebrating a new year with new perspective and great friends. Characters (in order of appearance) * Meilin Chang * Maryann Chang * Melody Chang * Howard Chang * Celine Zhou * Gwen Wheeler * Haruka Nakagawa * Regina Daniels * Chloe Winters * Leah Harrison * Arabella Wilson * Gail Edwards * Sun Zhou * Shirley Zhou * Hailey Lin * Abby Kang * Ava Boomna * Lacey Elbo * Alan Nguyen * Erica Wang Trivia *This story was rewritten four times. First edition, 2008. Fourth edition, 2018. *The inspiration for this story came from the story "Stacey's Mistake", a book in the Baby-Sitters Club series written by Ann M. Martin. *Alex and Ellie were originally in this story in the previous editions, but they were taken out because their roles were useless and their storylines were too similar to some of the storylines used in "Stacey's Mistake". *Alex, Ellie, Jessie, and Daphne are mentioned in the story but don't have speaking roles. Category:Stories